Case Has No Face
by CSI3SidleGSR
Summary: Sara never became a CSI due to a detour in her life. But soul mates are soul mates and she and Grissom find each other anyway when she becomes the victim in his most recent case. GSR
1. New Case

Sara never became a CSI due to a detour in her life. But soul mates are soul mates and she and Grissom find each other anyway. GSR. It's three years after Sara graduated college. The way I'm writing it, Sara met Grissom at a senior seminar.

AN: Yes, I'm back writing. My other story, Ultimatum, will have a second chapter soon. I've been really busy with school and 10 million other things but summer is here and I will finish it, but this wouldn't get out of my head. Oh, and to get it out of the way...CSI equals NOT MINE. If only...

Grissom looked at the sheet in his hand. Brunette, female, 25. Reported missing by her roommate Elizabeth Roland. These cases were often tough because one could never tell if the person had just run away or if they were truly missing. He didn't know why, but something in him said this case would be different.

Ignoring the feeling, he knocked on the apartment door. Grissom would usually wait for an officer, but with missing person cases he knew time was of the essence and wanted to get started right away. Besides, Brass was en route and could only be a few minutes away. The door opened a bit to reveal a blonde female.

"Yes?"

"Miss Roland? I'm from the Las Vegas Crime Lab. You reported your roommate…"

"Yes, please come in." She opened the door the rest of the way and ushered Grissom inside.

"I'm Gil Grissom. Now you said…"

"Wait a second…Grissom? You're a forensic entomology expert right? Sara used to talk about you in college. She went to one of your seminars and said you were incredible. You have her case?"

"I'll be working along with a colleague of mine, Catherine Willows. She's running a bit late."

"I just can't believe it. She really wanted to become a CSI."

"Why didn't she?" Elizabeth froze.

"She got a bit sidetracked."

"Okay. What made you report her missing?"

"She works at a diner down the street. She always comes home after work. _Always_. It's been about four hours since her shift ended and she's not here."

"There's no chance she had a date, a meeting, job interview?"

"You can check her calendar, Mr. Grissom, she has nothing on there. Sara was a stay at home person. She never really goes out except the occasional grocery run. I mean I'm really the more extroverted one…" As Elizabeth rambled about social lives, Grissom began to look around the room. His eyes settled on a picture on the mantle. Instantly he was taken back to three years ago.

_Flashback_

_"Excuse me, Dr. Grissom?" He turned to see a brunette smiling at him. She had been sitting front row center for his lecture and she had asked more questions than anyone in the room. "I'm Sara Sidle."_

_"You had some excellent questions today, Miss Sidle. Are you looking into becoming a CSI?"_

_"Possibly, and call me Sara. I'm a physics major right now but I heard about this and it sounded interesting."_

_"Well, I'm hoping it lived up to expectations."_

_"Oh yes! It was fascinating."_

_"I was just headed out, but would you like to go get some coffee? It seemed to me that you had more to ask." She laughed._

_"How could you tell?"_

_"The sad puppy dog look on your face when I cut off questions was a bit telltale."_

_"Yes, I'd love to." At that moment her cell phone began to ring. "One second." She stepped away and Grissom studied her while she talked. He'd never had a student this enthusiastic before. He watched as she went from happy to angry. "Christopher, no! I'm in a class…Chris…ugh. Please. Fine, I'll be there soon." She turned back to him. The puppy dog face was back. "I'm sorry Dr. Grissom, rain check? Got a bit of an emergency back at my apartment."_

_"Sure. I'm here for the next two days." He gave her his card. "Call my cell phone and we'll meet up."_

_"Thank you." She gave him a brilliant smile before turning and walking out. _

_End flashback_

She had never called him back. He had gotten over it and gone back to Las Vegas, but something in the back of his mind always wondered what would have happened.

"…I mean she's not a spinster or anything." Elizabeth had finished her tangent.

"Miss Roland, you said her name was Sara. Sara Sidle?"

"You remember her?"

"Yes, I do. To this day no one has asked me as many questions as she did at that seminar." Elizabeth laughed.

"That's Sara."

"Is there anywhere she would go? Has she mentioned leaving?"

"She wouldn't leave Mr. Grissom, I'm sure of it."

"Why?" As if on cue, a sound came from the next room. In a moment, a little brunette girl with brilliant blue eyes came walking out of the room. She looked about three years old.

"Izzy, mama?" The blonde went to her and picked her up.

"No, sweetie. Mama's not home yet." She turned back to Grissom. "This is Lily Sidle. This is why Sara didn't become a CSI. And this is why she wouldn't leave."


	2. Process

Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews. To clear something up, I'm confirming right now that Lily is NOT Grissom's daughter. Grissom and Sara met only once and then never saw each other again. The blue eyes are a connection, though, and will become important. I made another change (last chapter) that I forgot to note. In my world, Brass was never a CSI. He seemed to hate it for that whole Pilot episode, so why would he be one? So in this story, he has always been a homicide cop.

P.S. The name of the diner, Moondance, comes from the diner in New York where the AMAZING Jonathan Larson worked. Don't know who that is? Look him up. He will never be forgotten. Also, the black neon (I had to put this) is my boyfriend's car Henry. Don't ask.

A knock on the door startled Grissom out of his trance. Elizabeth went to the door and opened it, revealing Brass and Catherine.

"Miss Roland, this is Catherine Willows, another CSI, and Captain Brass." She acknowledged the two.

"I'm going to go try to get Lily back to sleep. I'll be back in a couple minutes." Grissom turned to his two friends as she left.

"Okay, here's what I have. The victim, Sara Sidle, works down the street. The little girl is her daughter, so I'm with the roommate that she wouldn't just leave. She would have gotten off work four hours ago. I haven't gotten a chance to ask about enemies Sara would have." Both Brass and Catherine noted his use of the victim's first name in the description. "I'm guessing she was taken right after work, so we're only four hours behind this guy, which is a lot better than some of our cases. I'm going to head down to the diner and see what her co-workers have to say. That will probably be where the primary scene is. If you two could stay here and get some of the final details, I'll meet you at the diner afterwards."

"Sure thing, boss." Catherine said, smiling subtly. Brass nodded and Grissom headed for the door. After he left, Brass gave Catherine a knowing smile.

"He said guess. He never…"

"I know."

"What's going on?"

"He wasn't like this when he left the lab."

"The enigma that is Gilbert Grissom never ceases to amaze."

Grissom pulled up at the Moondance diner and looked around. One of its workers was missing and yet life was going on. The bustling crowd and servers were just like every person in the town, constantly moving and tuning out the noise. They had no idea…

He walked in and headed to the counter.

"Excuse me?" He called out to a passing waiter.

"You're gonna have to wait your turn, pal." The man called, not even stopping. This was going to be very interesting. After a few minutes, the man headed back. "Yes?"

"I was wondering if I could talk to a supervisor or boss. I'm from the Vegas Crime Lab." The man stared in shock.

"Umm…sure…one sec." He walked back to the kitchen area. "Viv! There's a guy here from the police, says he needs the boss!" Within seconds a brunette, 40ish woman came hurrying out of the back. The man directed her to Grissom.

"I'm Vivian Tinley. How can I help you Mr…"

"Grissom. I'm Gil Grissom. Does a Sara Sidle work here?"

"Yes. I can't see why you'd be looking for her. Sara is the sweetest girl…"

"Sara was reported missing, she never came home from work." Vivian gasped.

"Sara? Oh no. Especially with Lily around. Is Lily okay?"

"Yes, Miss Tinley. She's with Sara's roommate, Miss Roland. I wanted to talk to you about her schedule. According to Miss Roland she would have gotten off work a little over four hours ago."

"Yes, Sara worked ten to seven. Gave her a good amount of time with Lily."

"I believe she went missing right after getting off work. Do you know of anyone here who would…"

"No, sir, Mr. Grissom. Everyone here loved her. As I said, she's a sweet girl and she'd bring in Lily some days. She'd cover shifts and work overtime whenever we were shorthanded. Saved us on a few occasions."

"Do you know of anyone else? Did she talk about anyone who would take her?"

"Her life was mostly Lily and working here. She wasn't really a social girl. Though…"

"Yes?"

"Christopher, Lily's father. She mentioned this morning his calling. That's really all I can give you." Grissom gave her a semi-smile.

"Thank you. I'm going to have a look around the parking lot. Does Sara drive here?"

"Yes, she had a black Neon."

"When she clocked out, did she take her car?"

"Oh, I don't know. I saw her head out, but after that I was back to work."

"Thank you again." With that Grissom headed out to the parking lot. The lot extended to the rear of the diner, where he spotted a black Neon. "Never made it to the car." He said softly. He knew this was their crime scene, so he shouldn't walk around much, but he spotted something white that broke the dark scene. Leaning down, he could smell something sweet. "Chloroform…halothane…" He listed off different gases that could have been used to knock her out. His cell phone's shrill ring broke the silence. "Grissom."

"Griss, it's Catherine. Roommate told us that the vic got a call from a Christopher Glendale this morning. He's the child's father. Said he wanted to see the girl but the vic wouldn't let him. Guy apparently has quite an angry streak. I think this might be our guy."

"I got the same from her boss. I think I got our primary scene here. She was last seen leaving work and I found a rag with some gas on it. Probably used to knock her out, keep her docile. Are you almost here?"

"Pulling in." He turned to see the lab's Tahoe pull in. They both hung up as she parked. After a minute she was by his side. "I see what you mean. Brass is right behind me, he'll call in the scene, rope it off. You wanna run with the father, see if he's been seen round here lately?"

"Yeah, I'll hit the lab databases. Call if you get anything else from here?"

"You bet!"


End file.
